Christian Hill Desserts

Challenge

Christian Hill Desserts, located in Worcester, Massachusetts, was purchased by a young entrepreneur who was a veteran in the baking industry. Christian Hill Desserts was an established wholesale bakery, but did not have a recognizable identity scheme. After several months of product and sale analysis, the owner and his partner set goals for a major transition and solicited Dynamic Data Design to create a strong branding scheme that would help showcase the company’s established reputation for quality baked goods, while integrating the new owner’s vision for future growth. In an effort to focus on the new vision, the owner began preparing to phase out certain products, while introducing others. To enable a smooth transition and generate excitement, the owner commissioned Dynamic Data Design to create a product catalog to showcase the streamlined menu.

Process

Together, with the client, we examined various aspects of the company values, challenges and hopes for the future. Through several discussions with our client, we learned why the client purchased the business, what brought the client the most joy from the business, what concerns the client had about the upcoming transition, what areas of service our client hoped to expand into and what set Christian Hill Desserts apart from its competition.

With this wealth of information, we set out to create a sophisticated, yet simple branding scheme that would emphasize Christian Hill Desserts’ reputation for providing fresh and high-quality baked goods.

Timeless sophistication with an Island flare

For the color palette, our designer chose a flat coffee brown to pair with a tropical turquoise blue. The shades of both colors were chosen as a reflection of our client’s Island heritage. For the font selection, our designer balanced a traditional script with a modern sans serif font. As a striking punctuation, a broad coffee brown edging was added to mimic cloth ribbon which is commonly used for wrapping fine baked goods.

This combination of color and style gave rise to an elegant logo that presents the high-end bakery as both mature and contemporary.

Once the finalized logo was approved, we worked closely with the client to integrate the newly-designed branding scheme into all levels of printed materials. Besides creating the template for the business card and letterhead, we designed a 12-page menu catalog.

We conceived of a design that would be clean and crisp, yet convey a sense of comfort and warmth. The rich coffee brown of the branding scheme was used as the background color of the entire catalog. This dramatic backdrop creates a warm setting that allows for the menu items to take center stage. To continue the clean and elegant look, the table of contents page was kept understated with page numbers spelled out in lower case.

As we wished for customers to be enticed further into the catalog, we employed visual drama by horizontally aligning the table of contents and positioning it three-quarters of the way down the page. For visual interest, splashes of blue were added in the form of a decorative flourish and boxes highlighting page numbers throughout the catalog.

The biggest challenge with the catalog was not getting side-tracked by the mouth-watering descriptions of the menu items.

Results

By taking the time to get to know our client and by honoring our client’s ideas and edits, we were able to create an elegant and sophisticated identity scheme that reflects our client’s personal heritage, re-affirms the quality of the products and sets the tone for future growth.